Regional councillors seeking delay on marijuana legalization

By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express

With less than a year before marijuana is scheduled to become legal in Canada, regional council is requesting the Trudeau government take a second look at the matter.

The region plans to ask the federal Liberal Party to delay its legalization plans beyond the announced date of July 1, 2018.

After Durham’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Kyle told council earlier this month that he wasn’t sure of the impact legalized marijuana would have on his department only 10 months out from its implementation, several councillors voiced their concerns about the impending deadline, with CEO Roger Anderson stating there “were a whole bunch of unanswered questions”.

Voicing his uncertainty about how much the federal government would be able to prepare over the upcoming months, Anderson stated, “I have a feeling the government won’t do much after the budget.”

Oshawa councillor Amy McQuaid-England was opposed to asking for a delay, calling it a restriction on the rights of individuals.

“The more delays we have, the more police time to prosecute and arrest individuals with small amounts of marijuana,” she said, arguing that lengthening the legalization process may lead to many young people ending up with criminal records, while pointing out, in her view, that it is more likely this will happen to people of colour and lower economic standing.

To combat this, McQuaid-England suggested asking the government to decriminalize marijuana in the interim, Anderson said he did not want to go down that road and it would simply be a “three or four-paragraph letter” asking them to delay legalization.